The Morning After
by Full Moon Ballad
Summary: Basically the morning after my other story One Too Many. Hence the title. Zutara AU.


**A/N: Mmmkay, back again. Hopefully ya'll like it. Oh, I forgot to say this before, but I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Or Tylenol.**

**O.o.O**

A butter-yellow beam of light seeped through the thin curtains of the room, forcing Katara's weary eyes open. Pain shot through her forehead at the unwanted brightness. Eyes narrowed, she groaned and rolled away from the offending light. Her eyes still open, she scanned what she could see of the room. The surroundings were alien to her; different paint, minimal furniture, Zuko in a rocking chair, weird carpet color….Wait, _Zuko_?

Where _was_ she?

Then it all came rushing back to her (making her already throbbing head feel worse.) The party. The laughing. The drinks.

Oh. Right.

Katara slowly lifted a palm to her aching head, rubbing her temples. _Another one of _those _nights_, she mentally sighed. Still feeling awful, she felt herself doze off. She'd need the extra sleep to kill this nasty hangover.

**O.o.O**

Golden eyes popped open once the woman on the bed stopped moving. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully Katara hadn't seen him and he could leave the room without incident. He eased off the chair, making sure to step over the squeaky parts of the floor.

And promptly tripped over Sokka.

_Dammit_…

Zuko fell to the floor with a crashing _thud, _waking up the siblings simultaneously. The universe just couldn't give him a break, could it? Noooo, that'd just be too damn easy!

With a groan, Zuko lifted himself off of a complaining Sokka.

"Dude, what the hell?" Sokka's face flashed with groggy outrage.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Zuko retorted. He thought he'd gotten rid of the over-protective brother last night. Apparently Sokka had returned to the room later to make sure nothing "suspicious" was going on. And then fell asleep.

Sokka hefted himself off the floor, grunting the whole time, Zuko following his example. They looked toward the bed, realizing Katara was awake as well.

"Okay, this is probably the dumbest thing I'll ever ask but, what the hell happened last night? Why are you guys in here? What room am I in?" Katara trailed off in a never-ending string of questions, leaving the boys grasping at straws for the moment. Finally, Sokka got some sense and tried to explain what happened.

"Look, you totally got wasted last night and then you wouldn't shut up so we were trying to leave but then you asked for Zuko so then the rest of us left the room and I don't know _what_ the hell actually happened after that but then I found you guys in the guest room a few hours later and I didn't know what that was about so I stayed here and…yeah, that's about it." Now red in the face and gasping for breath, Sokka turned to Zuko, looking for a confirmation. Zuko cautiouslylooked at Katara, not really knowing what would be safe to say at this point. So he settled for the simple "guy method."

"Uh, yeah. What he said."

Katara looked more confused and sleepy than mad, and her killer headache wouldn't allow her to look any further into what the boys had said. For now.

Letting go of this issue for the moment, Katara asked, "What time is it?"

"About 10:30."

Katara groaned and pulled herself away from the comforting warmth of the bed. "Where is everyone else?"

"Toph and Aang had to leave early for work, and Suki left about a half hour ago. Something about Aang needing more caffeine in his house. Aang said we're welcome to stay for a while, so don't worry about rushing yourself, Katara," Zuko replied, a stern yet concerned expression on his face. He left the room then, confusing Katara even further.

Zuko's exit gave Sokka some interrogation time. Which he gladly took advantage of. "Alright, spill. What happened with you two last night?" He could see Katara was about to deny everything. "And don't give me the 'nothing happened' crap either."

Still slightly confused over what really _did_ happen last night, Katara give him a slightly filtered version of the events. Minus the kissing. And touching. And anything else that would send Sokka on a hunt for Zuko's hide. So, that basically left the story as her and Zuko sitting on the couch talking. Just talking. Yeah, that sounded believable, right?

Miraculously, Sokka didn't throw much of a tantrum after she finished explaining. He asked the usual questions, "You're sure he didn't try anything?" "You're okay?" "He didn't hurt you?" But then he just let it go. And just in time. Zuko came through the doorway, carrying a small tray of breakfast items. With some Tylenol. Katara smiled dryly in his direction, taking the tray and settling into a comfortable position on the bed. After seeing her dig into the scrambled eggs with gusto, Sokka exited the room, throwing Zuko one last dirty look. The message was clear:

_I've got my eyes on you, bud._

Silence reigned in the room then, neither Zuko nor Katara ready to break it. Zuko just sat back in the rocking chair and looked out the window while Katara returned to her meal. Both kept shifting their eyes toward each other, and whenever their gazes locked together, they quickly glanced away. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, both blurted out in unison, "We're going to have to talk eventually!"

Again, meeting the other's eyes, warmth rushed to their faces. Katara laughed nervously, still unsure of the situation. Zuko gave her an odd look, then grinned a bit.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened last night or do I have to make a complaint to Sokka?" she asked, a smile settled on her face. Zuko's face tightened a bit, and he went back to stone-faced silence.

"Oh, come on, it couldn't have been _that_ bad!"

"Believe me, it could."

"Look Zuko, I have a right to know."

With a sigh of resignation, Zuko turned to her and relayed the previous night's events. With a bit more details than what Katara was expecting.

"There, you satisfied?"

Katara sat in silence again, feeling ashamed of herself. How could she let herself do those things? Where was her self-respect?

"I'm sorry."

Zuko's ears had been caught by surprise. Had she just apologized to him? Why? _She_ had nothing to be sorry for. He was the one who started the whole ordeal in the first place. But she continued anyway.

"If you hadn't stopped me…I don't know what would have happened. And I'm sorry for yelling at you. You didn't deserve to hear all that."

"Katara, stop. Just stop. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. And as for the yelling, well, I kind of needed to hear that." At her befuddled look, he elaborated. "I had no idea that you felt that way for me. If it wasn't for that, I never would have kissed you. We'd never be having this conversation. And I wouldn't have been able to say this."

He rose from the chair and settled himself by Katara's side. He gently stroked her jawline, looking deeply into her eyes, searching for her essence, her soul. He lowered his mouth to hers in the most tender of caresses. It was the sweetest kiss Katara had ever had; so full of meaning and life and beauty and…

"I love you, Katara."

Love.

**O.o.O**

**And they lived happily ever after, blah blah blah…So yeah, I finally decided to finish this. Yes, I realize this is very poor quality, and it's the cheesiest thing I've ever written. I tried to make it funny, honestly I did, but I just couldn't do it. I've been so depressed lately that you're lucky I didn't kill off Zuko or something. Anyways, review please! I'd REALLY like to hear from you guys.**

**~FMB**


End file.
